Hey guys...

Sorry for not coming back with the response in time...got no time between work and doctor visits...

so, here's a summary of what happened between the last post and today...

1. Med. oncology dept @ AIIMS was super busy, so, saw my uncle for 2 min and suggested FNAC of the superficial lesion/blister on the chest. Result-Negative (Non-malignant cells)

2. Doubt was whether the part highlighted in PET CT (lymph nodes near neck in upper chest) was disease or not. Med. oncology department suggested PET CT guided FNAC of this part. Result-Negative (non-malignant cells)

So, it seemed some relief, but disease is getting worse on the face. Patient is technically candidate for surgery of his mouth/face.

3. Went back to original doctor of patient (surgical onco) to assess surgery. He says surgery would be extensive and patient might lose speech, as the tongue would lose support & recede behind blocking the throat, and, patient will breathe through a tube that would be fitted in his neck for few months. Also, no guarantee that disease won't come back after surgery. So, he suggested Targeted Therapy along with Chemo. If chemo response good in next 2 months, surgery could be considered.
Suggested Chemo: Cetuximab + MTX/5FU + Cisplatin/Carboplatin
Result: Overall, doctor not very positive as cost to success ratio seems too less...since, the previous chemo (Paclitaxel+Biocarb) didn't work at all.

4. We went to another successful cancer hospital for a 2nd opinion (lot of foreigners coming there for treatment too). Met their surgical & medical oncologists...surgical onco did say that surgery would be major but not as bad as told by previous doc. He said, the breathing pipe would be removed in 1-2 weeks post surgery. But, like previous doc, he said that unless he gets some encouragement from targeted chemo (after 2 cycles of 3 weeks each), he wouldn't do the surgery, as disease might come back in a week after surgery...sent us to his medical onco. Medical Onco (one of India's top 5 cancer specialists) suggested target chemo as follows:
Palliative Chemo (Irinotecan + Cisplatin) + Cetuximab
Result: He asked for a CBC/LFT/RFT report to suggest final course of action on Monday.

My Question to fellow forum members: Sorry for the long description, but, need to know if anyone has had experience with the above chemo/target therapies and what kind of side effects did the patients undergo? Has it shrunk anybody's tumors/wounds?

The pain on patient's face is increasing each day and he is getting very demotivated...

Pls also advise if I can post a photo of patient's face wound so someone could tell how bad it is.

Thanks